Pittsburgh Pirates defeat Houston Astros 7-5 in eleven innings – MLB Update
The Pittsburgh Pirates edged past the Houston Astros 7-5 in a tight encounter that stretched to eleven innings at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas on Sunday, July 17.
Bad luck continued for the Astros as they failed to make an impact at home. This was their 35th loss at home with just 15 wins recorded thus far. Out of the 95 games played this season, the Astros have managed just 31 wins.
The first four innings of the game were intense as the balance swayed from one team to the other. From thereon, the pitchers dictated the flow of the game.
The Astros started off strongly with Jeff Keppinger adding the first run on the board in the first inning. The Pirates replied quickly in the second inning with Lyle Overbay and Eric Fryer adding a run each to set up a one-run lead.
Keppinger had a point to prove in the game. He has been hitting pretty well this season and he took this opportunity to showcase his talent. Keppinger launched a two-run homer in the third inning allowing Clint Barmes to complete his run and inflict the
one-run lead back on the Pirates.
The Pirates did not fall to this slender lead and levelled things in the fourth inning when Brandon Wood scored for the Pirates. As the fourth inning ended, the score stood at 3-3.
After six runs in the first four innings of the game, the next four innings yielded just two runs. Wood scored his second run for the Pirates in the sixth inning before Keppinger increased his tally to three runs for the game in the eighth inning to once
again level the score.
The Astros did not seem to be a lowly ranked team and fought the Pirates with full vigour. Wandy Rodriguez leaked four runs for the Astros in 5.2 innings that he pitched but his performance was satisfactory in the game’s context. The relievers supported
him well and held things together without conceding a run to take the game into the 11th and eventually the decisive inning.
Kevin Correia was equally effective for the Pirates and did not leak any extra scoring opportunities to the Astros’ batters. His six innings at the mound yielded three-runs for the Astros.
Correia was well relieved by Joe Beimel and Daniel McCutchen who ended up holding their fourth and seventh games respectively for the season. Jose Veras conceded the equaliser in the eighth inning but ended up with his 19th hold this season.
In the 11th inning it all came down between Mark Melancon of the Astros and Chris Resop of the Pirates. Melancon could not sustain pressure and leaked three expensive-runs to lose his third game of the season.
With at least three runs to play with, Resop sided with precision and in the end saved his first game of the season.
The Pirates won the three-game series 2-1. The Astros are now without a series win since June 1.
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